Grammar Bonanza!

I am so excited about this. I realize that I am several weeks late in talking about this, but Slate posted a fantastic article about the sentence structure of some of the things Sarah Palin has said. I will admit that if someone decided to diagram much of what I say aloud, it would look fairly ridiculous so I can give here the benefit of the doubt on most of this. However, a couple of these diagrams are out of control.

I love this article because it's a combination of two of my favorite things: poking fun at politicians and language. Thanks Slate for making my day a little bit brighter.

Stephen A. Douglas was a great debator

... but Abraham Lincoln was the great emancipator.

Yesterday at a fund raiser, speaking about the debate set for tonight, John McCain said, "I hope to do about half as well as [Sarah Palin] did against poor Joe Biden," (I heard this on the radio this morning, and can't find an appropriate link for it) and I sincerely hope that he means it. If McCain hopes to do half as well as Palin did, then he should immediately drop out of the race for the POTUS. To her credit, Palin didn't do too terribly and she met or exceeded the expectations set for her--though they were incredibly low.

As all polls and most pundits have said, Biden handily beat Palin in their debate so I'm not exactly sure what McCain meant by that statement. Perhaps he is conceding that Obama is that much better than McCain, perhaps McCain is sweet-talking his running mate so soften the blow of her resounding defeat at the debate, or maybe McCain will say whatever it takes to make his audience happy. I would bet on the third assessment, but I'm not sure that any of them aren't true.

Unfortunately, I have class until ten tonight and I will not get home until around eleven. Here's hoping that my professor will want us to be politically aware and will let us go very early so I can watch it and be informed, conscious American voters. I'm not holding my breath, though--he's British.

Anticipation

I don't know if I can express how excited I am for the VP debate tonight. I'm fairly certain that I like Biden and I'm anticipating a good performance. At the same time, I think I'm more anxious to see how Palin reacts to the spotlight. After watching her in several interviews (albeit filled with softball questions), I am quite prepared to see good things from her. According to some who have debated her before, she is quite a good debater--not because she's a brilliant thinker, or because she knows all the facts, but because she is uniquely able to get away with not giving any answer at all.

I would love to live-blog the event here, but realistically, too few people read this to make commenting worthwhile. I'll be quite content to quietly watch it at home with my lovely wife. Enjoy the political sparring!

SP as (potential) VP

Try as I may, I cannot help but gobble up the news about Sarah Palin. I never would have thought 'political' news could be so much like watching The View while snacking on unbaked-but-oh-so-delicious cookie dough.